Spirited Wanderer
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: she didn't know how it happened nor why, but somehow she wound up falling through space thanks to her inheritance and time and appearing just outside of the Cheyenne village outside of the town of Cedar Springs. Sully didn't know who she was much less where she came from- all he knew was that he couldn't live without her. Sully/OC rated M. my first dr. Quinn fic. R&R.
1. Chapter 1

_The spirits speak to us everyday, though their voices often fall upon deaf ears-_

*000o000*

Who knew that accidentally moving through space and time would be such a pain in the ass? Kay wondered as she hit the ground hard enough to jar her down to her very bones before she promptly rolled down the steep incline that she had landed upon, and came to a rather sudden stop when she hit near frigid water and rocks.

Stunned at the abruptness of everything that had happened, and frankly, still trying to let her mind catch up to her body- she didn't move from underneath the water. She merely, floated there for what seemed like an short eternity before her mind and body finally became synchronized again and she realized that she was kind of drowning, and fought her way to the surface.

Breaking the crystalline waters, she gasped as she slowly began to maneuver herself through the water until she was back on land again. Or at least as close to it as she could get anyways, before she finally managed to sort herself out.

Laying on her back on the warm ground, she blinked her eyes several times before seeming to realize, oh, her bangs were in her eyes. Reaching up, slender fingers carefully brushed the blue black strands away revealing a pale heart shaped face with wide vivid green eyes rimmed in a beautiful aqua.

Huffing as she tried to recall everything that had happened from beginning to end, she paused briefly to glance at both of her wrists.

This whole damn, time and space trip thingy had started with her being given a pair of priceless sterling silver and opal inlay bracelets and a sterling and opal inlay choker with three oval shaped blue sapphires imbedded in it.

The pieces had belonged to her great, great grandmother. Which were kind of a wedding gift from her great, great, grandfather whom had made the lovely pieces of art work to be handed down through the generations of women in their family.

Which is how she had gotten them, the last owners of the three pieces had died. Oddly all had perished on the same day, within an hour of each other. Leaving her the only girl left in the family to take possession of the pieces. And of course, no one had warned her about the possibility of them being haunted? Enchanted? Bewitched?

She honestly didn't know what to call... _whatever_ it was. All she really understood is one second she had been at home, in the year 2017. And now...well, she didn't exactly know _when_ or _where_ she was. All she could tell so far was that, she wasn't in Kansas anymore.

Laying on the ground for a moment longer, she huffed for a moment in a rare fit of annoyance, and then slowly climbed to her feet. Feeling the water soaking every inch of her form in an uncomfortable way, she looked around to see if there was any signs of people around and could hear some hustling and bustling about from a slight distance.

She could make out the vague sounds of people moving around, going about their everyday life.

Making a quick decision to strip herself of everything but her black spandex knee length shorts and the strapless spandex bra that she had covering her chest, she then proceeded to ditch her wet turquoise long sleeved cotton shirt, her multi colored black, copper, green, gold, and maroon velvet and satin vest, her mid thigh length black cotton skirt and the leggings that she wore under it and her slip on black leather shoes.

With that done, she then collected her discarded clothing and shoes and began walking towards the sounds she heard. Hoping that she would run into someone who might be able to help her.

Carefully climbing the steep incline that she had tumbled down, it took her a few minutes, but she finally reached the top of the incline and pushed her way through a small thicket of bushes and stumbled out into the open.

She wasn't sure exactly what she had been expecting to find.

But several Indians, a white guy in buckskin clothing, all on horse back- _looking at her funny_ \- wasn't anywhere at the top of her list.

Staring at them for several heartbeats, she was vaguely aware that she was being rude and should at the very least try to say something, but she was fairly certain that anything that she may say to them might be taken out of context and considered insulting or something.

It was during her state of slight shock, that the man in the buck skin clothing slid off of his horse's back and slowly walked around to where she was. Blinking as he stood directly in front of her, his body towering over her own- Kay tilted her head back ever so slightly to look at him.

Noting that he was pretty damn handsome. He had long light brown hair that fell past his shoulders, his face was...almost like a model's. Square jawline, stubborn chin, calm looking sky blue eyes. He looked like he was about twenty two or something, was physically fit, his body well built and covered in thickly chorded muscle. His height had to be somewhere around six foot.

She couldn't even begin to speculate his weight.

She felt him carefully lay a hand on one of her slender shoulder's and nearly jumped out of her skin. Her mind chanting, _too close, too close, too close!_ Didn't this guy know that he shouldn't be in her personal bubble until at least the tenth date?! Her mind supplied as she became aware that he was speaking to her.

Panicking slightly because she missed what he had been saying, she opted to stay silent instead of simply responding, causing the man to frown at her before turning to his friends and said something in what sounded like Cheyenne to her.

 _"She isn't responding. Do you think she could be injured or something?"_

 _"Not sure. I see no visible wounds on her aside from some slight bruises, scratches and bloody gnashes and cuts on her arms and legs."_

 _"What should we do?"_

 _"I am not sure. The white man usually doesn't allow their young children to wander off."_

 _"Should we take her back to the tribe and see take care of her, maybe see if she can answer our questions later. She seems to be in shock right now."_

Kay listened to them talk about her and was tempted to start speaking Apache at them just to shut them up. However she wasn't exactly sure how any of them would react to that- so she remained silent and merely listened.

The indian that the man had been talking too, nodded his head as he looked her over for a moment before noticing her choker and bracelets, and then frowning.

 _"Where did she get those?"_

 _"What?"_

 _"The jewelry. The pieces are indian made."_

 _"Can you tell what tribe?"_

 _"No."_

 _"Then we'll simply have to ask her about them later."_

 _"Very well, bring her."_

The moment that those words left the Indian's lips, the man that had tried to speak to her moved quickly- scooping her up into his arms before she could so much as scream, much less think to struggle- he had her on his horse, and pulled himself up behind her in the saddle and did some weird exchange with the Indians that he had rode over with and then nudged the horse into a trot.

Causing her to reach out and grab his arms in alarm.


	2. Chapter 2

The village reminded her of something out of an old wild west movie. Honestly she had never seen such historically accurate teepee's, lodge houses, fire pits, paintings, cookware, pelts laid out for tanning and stretching, the clothing, the rhythm of the drums, the clothing- it was so much that her head literally felt as if it were spinning.

And the people...

In all her eleven years of life- the closest she had ever come to actual Indians had been both sets of grandparents and great, great grandparents. All of whom came from different tribes of Blackfoot, Apache, Crow, Cherokee, with maybe some Cheyenne and Sioux thrown in there.

Which is partially how she learned the languages and some of the customs. Another part of how she learned them had to do with her IQ of one, eighty nine. She had a photographic memory, could read and write at an exceptional level, and she knew things about the world's history, science, politics, different religions, advanced medicine, war tactics, ect...

Most of which she knew from just reading.

She had learned war tactics and how to use weapons every time she had been out of school for the summer, which she then spent all summer, playing war games and fighting against her grandfather's, much to her grandmother's amusement.

By going out into the wilderness and playing such games with them, she had learned how to track, hunt, strategize and fight.

The first time she had brought down a grown black bear while on her own, had sort of been appalling. But she had managed to do it with only a few bruises and claw marks that went down her back from her between her shoulders almost to the small of her back.

And yes, she had been in agony at the time. The blasted thing had tossed her around and flung her through the air like a damn rag doll, causing her to crash into rocks and tree trunks before she had gotten pissed off enough to actually kill it.

And even then it had been a case of touch and go for a while.

She'd had to lay still enough for the damn thing to come over to her while carefully pulling the large knife that one of her grandfather's had given to her. The moment that the bear had gotten close enough to attempt eating her, she had taken that knife and jammed it tight through the thing's skull and given the knife a savage twist as the thing tried to escape her.

Shredding it's brain enough to cause it to die fairly quickly and drop like a ton of bricks.

The only true issue that she had had with the bear once it was dead, had been than the stupid thing had fallen almost completely on top of her.

Almost being the operative word there.

She had spent two days pinned underneath one of it's heavy paws before one of her grandfathers had finally gotten paranoid enough about her lack of activity and come to find her. And once he had rescued her from the bear corpse he had collected her other grandfather and both of her grandmother's and driven to the local hospital both shouting at her for being stupid enough to take on a full grown animal like she had while then laughing at her because of the pitiful sight she had made pinned underneath the blasted animal corpse.

Feeling herself being lifted, she blinked as she was suddenly brought back to the present as the man that had been riding on the horse behind her carefully lifted her down and wrapped her up in his arms and began walking towards a tee-pee that had some animal pelts laid out on the ground along with some wool blankets. Where the man carefully set her down and then knelt down in front of her and pushed her long damp hair back from her face, his blue eyes scanning her for... _something_ as he began to speak to her in English _._

"Okay, let's see if you have any other injuries..." As he combed her hair back from her face with his fingers. Carefully running his fingertips along her scalp in an effort to find any knots, gnashes, cuts, blood- anything at all to explain why she seemed to be in shock.

He did this for about two minutes before finding a painful knot with a bad cut on it at the base of her skull and carefully probed it with his fingertips causing her to wince and twitch almost violently in an effort to recoil from his fingers.

He exhaled the breath that he had been holding and muttered a soft apology as one of the Indian's from before walked over with a clay bowl of water and a piece of rag and several leather pouches and jars and sat down next to the man and asked, "How is she?" In English so that she would understand what they were saying since he wasn't all that certain if she spoke a different language or not.

Both men could tell by her light gold skin color and long dark hair as well as other features that the girl had at least _some_ native American blood in her veins. Though her strange clothing and her green and aqua colored eyes gave her away as a half breed.

"She's got a knot at the base of her skull that is a bit bloody and tender, but she doesn't seem concussed. Aside from that and the bruises and cuts and such- she's fine." The man with the blue eyes said as he let his hands fall away from her for a second as he wet the rag and wrung it out and then carefully, with the help of his friend, collected her long hair and held it up off of her nape so that the blue eyed man could clean it.

"She's a beautiful child. I can't imagine her simply getting lost or wandering off."

The indian made a noncommittal sound and frowned for a moment as something caught his eye, reaching out he absently placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, stilling him in mid motion as the indian leaned in towards her a little bit more and looked at what had caught his attention.

"Sully," He said as he stared at the stark reddish marks that stood out against her soft tan skin. "She was injured. The injury looks like it is only just healing." The indian said as the blue eyed man, Sully put the rag down and then stood up and walked around behind her to see what had his friend upset.

There on her back between her small shoulders, all the way down to the small of her back was several long and painful looking slashes that could only come from a bear's claws.

Dropping back down to his knees behind her, Sully took a moment to wrap his mind around a child- much less a little girl- being attacked and maimed by a damn bear's claws as he absently reached out to carefully trace the scars. As if trying to assure himself that she really was healing or healed from the injury and didn't succumb to it as so many others might have.

After all, it wasn't everyday that a child was attacked by such a predator and walked away from it intact. Many a man, woman, and child had been attacked by bears and killed and eaten.

Yet this strange little one had.

And he couldn't help but wonder if perhaps the bear attack had caused some sort of trauma that kept her from speaking. But then Sully began to wonder about other things as well. The injury looked between a few weeks to a month old, where was her parents? Siblings?

Were they alive or had the bear killed them? And if it had killed them, how had she managed to escape as badly injured as she had been. Her flesh had been split open, from the looks of things, damn near to the bone. She wouldn't have been able to move on her own. Not without causing herself further injury.

And even if she had managed to move on her own, what about internal injuries and such? Bears weren't exactly known to just claw a person, the tended to slap their victims and toss them around all while clawing and biting at them. Ripping them apart slowly and painfully.

"Sully? What are you thinking?" The indian asked as he let go of her hair and let the wet-ish waist length black strands fall back into place.

"I'm wondering how she managed to survive that injury. And where is her family? Did the bear kill them when it attacked her? Is that why she's alone?"

"I do not know the answers to that my friend. Only she can answer those questions for you. Until then, she needs someone to look out for her."

"You're right. But I'm worried about what may happen to you and the rest of the villagers if any soldiers come through here and see her. They may not be able to tell that she's a half breed."

"Nevertheless, she is a child and needs someone to look after her." The indian said firmly. Apparently the thought that he might get shot or killed for kidnapping a settler's child didn't phase him any.

 _He is a brave one_ , Kay thought to herself as she drew her legs up to her chest and laid her head down on her knees. _Foolish, but brave just the same_.

She would have to hang around and learn what she could under the guise of helplessness before she could plan out her next move. The first thing she needed to do is figure out _where_ she was as well as _when_ she was. After that, she'd plan accordingly.

"It looks like she is tired. You should let her rest a while before dinner. I will hunt for you both this day." The indian said as the other man remained silent while he got to his feet and left. Leaving her with the one named, Sully, whom carefully collected her in his arms again and carried her inside of the tee-pee behind him where he placed her on a makeshift bed of animal skins.

Kay was silent as he carefully tucked her in after he finished up cleaning her wounds and rubbing some salve on them to help keep them from becoming infected. After which he settled himself down next to her and softly sang her an old Cheyenne song to help her relax and get some rest.

And while he was treating her like a little kid, something that she really wasn't used too- she would admit that she felt safe enough with him to _let_ him lull her to sleep by singing to her.


	3. Chapter 3

The first night in the village was fairly uneventful.

Kay slept for a few hours and was awakened sometime around dark by Sully, who then handed her a clay bowl of rabbit stew with a side of cornbread and some wild berries. The two ate together in relative silence for a little while before Sully decided to try questioning her.

Asking things like, Who was she? Where was she from? How'd she get away from the bear? For some reason she couldn't fathom, that question seemed to really be bugging him. But then so did the questions of- where was her family? Were they alive? Did she get lost or separated from them? Were they possibly looking for her right now? How old was she? Did she have siblings? And so on.

So after she finished her stew and cornbread, she thought for a moment as she set the bowl and spoon aside and laid her berries down where she could munch on them as she tried to answer his questions to the best of her ability without giving too much away.

She started with her name.

Instead of speaking she wrote it out in the dirt between them just to test the waters and see if he could read since that would make things _immensely_ uncomplicated for her as far as communication went.

Thankfully, Sully could read. And picked up her answers to his questions easily enough. Maybe once most of his curiosity was satisfied, he'd stop asking so much. Especially since she couldn't give him all of the answers to his questions without possibly damaging the time stream that she was currently in.

So after answering what she could, her name, where her family was- she had to stretch the truth a bit there and told him that they were all dead since it would have confused him to learn that they hadn't been born yet- she was eleven. Her birthday was close to the thirty first of October. She had no siblings as they had died during the war.

Once she gave that little bit of information out she inwardly cringed and wondered if there had been any recent wars that she could pretend claimed her siblings.

Sully was quiet as he absorbed the information she gave him before finally speaking. His voice slightly pained. "You have no one left? Not at all?"

She slowly shook her head no.

And he nodded his head in understanding before simply saying, "Then you can stay with me if you want. I have a settlement a few miles from here that I could clean up a little bit and start living at again. It'll take a week or so, but I can get it done easily enough. I'll have to take you into town sometime soon and get you some clothing," She started to shake her head no, but he cut her off. "I know that you may not like it, but you need decent clothing and shoes. The ones that you were wearing before are rather... _strange_."

Though 'strange' was the word that he used, she sensed that he wished to say was 'immodest'. Which sort of upset her a little bit since she had gotten those clothes from her grandmother. However she refrained from saying anything, though she probably wasn't able to hide her upset as much as she would have liked.

Sully's blue eyes studied her for a moment before he said, "Sorry. I wasn't trying to offend. I don't know exactly how you came across such odd clothing or what the purpose of them is- I really didn't mean to offend you or anything..." She seemed to visibly calm at his words and he gave her a small smile as if he were amused by her before he said, "You sort of keep things bottled up inside, huh?"

She looked away from him, a slight blush staining her cheeks as she mentally shouted, _So what if I do?! It's my right to hold things back if I wanna!_

"I can take you into town with me tomorrow to get some things so that you'll be more comfortable. I'll need to get some new supplies for cleaning the cabin out anyways. Sound alright to you?"

Kay glanced at him for a moment and then nodded her head.

He smiled at her and then made small talk until she began to get tired again and almost fell asleep and fell over in his lap before he shooed her off to bed, telling her not to worry, that he would sleep someplace close by just in case she needed something.

After which she nodded to him and silently bid him a goodnight before moving back to the bed she had used earlier and settling down on it and falling into a light doze so that she remained aware of every movement the man made within the tee-pee throughout the night.

(**********************************************************************************************************************************)

The next day started far sooner than she cared for.

Only a few hours after she had dozed off. Upon waking she had been handed some borrowed clothing and then taken from the tee-pee down to a creek when Sully had handed her some yucca scented soap that one of the Indian's had made and then told to take herself a bath and dress.

Of course she had no problem with bathing.

The issue at this point had been the fact that she was out in the open, in a very public place that several others were using right then, and the blasted man had decided to settle himself on a large tree root partially protruding from the ground where he apparently thought would be a good place to keep any eye on her.

"What's wrong?" Sully called out to her upon noticing her reluctance to undress herself an do as he had bid her to. Surely she wasn't shy.

She turned her head to look at him from over her shoulder, her dark hair falling in her face, partially obscuring her vision. But he got the gist of her thoughts just from the look on her pretty little face.

She was shy and as such was reluctant to do anything that she would consider inappropriate. After all most eleven year old girls didn't undress in mixed company, much less bathe among males who were not their close kin. And even that was a tad bit of a stretch.

Deciding to use this little tidbit of information to his advantage, he propped his elbow on his leg and settled his chin in his palm and said, "You know, despite what you may think- it isn't like anyone here is going to ogle you. You are just a kid after all. Even if you are a very pretty one."

Kay's outraged reaction, while somewhat expected, was nevertheless humorous.

She sputtered for a moment, as if she were grappling with herself over something before then dropping the borrowed clothing on the closest rock and then bared her teeth at him and hissed like a very large and angry sounding cat before then promptly diving into the water.

Leaving him sitting there for a moment trying to figure out just what the hell that whole teeth baring and hissing like a cat action was about.

He'd never had a female, regardless of her age, act like that towards him even in a joking manner before. Sitting back with a grunt, he glanced back down at the waters and noted that Kay was glaring at him while only half submerged under the water.

Her could very clearly see her narrowed eyes and the top of her dark head poking out of the waters below and simply smiled at her before calling out, "Don't forget to wash your hair." After which she disappeared under the water again.


	4. Chapter 4

Once she was bathed and dressed in the borrowed clothing that Sully had given to her, Kay followed him back to the village where he then saddled his horse before turning back to her and picking her up and setting her on the horse just like he did the day before, before he pulled himself up behind her and nudged the horse into motion.

The trip was peaceful.

Or as peaceful as a trip with a young child could be, at least. Every little sound had Kay damn near jumping out of her skin. Which was funny to Sully at first, but after a while he got quiet. His expression curious as well as pensive. As if he was trying to figure out why every little sound seemed to startle her.

Finally after deciding to ask her about the issue once they were back at the village later, he merely placed an arm around her small torso and pulled her back against his body in a protective gesture and told her that she could try dozing off for a spell if she wanted.

She merely shook her head no, indicating that she would not bother and merely laid back against him as they rode.

About an hour later the two rode into a small town called Cedar Springs. A town that was smack dab in the middle of Colorado. Which would change it's name from Cedar Springs to Colorado Springs, sometime down the line around the time the railroad came to the town.

Which meant that she was currently living sometime between the late seventeen hundreds and the eighteen hundreds. And while that was all well and good, she still needed an exact date before she could plan accordingly.

After all, if she was unable to get back home- she'd be stuck living here among a bunch of people who tended to shoot first and ask questions later- when it came to every little thing that they didn't know of or understand. And that was bad. _Really bad_.

It was also a time of racism, bigotry, and when disease and crime swept through the lands like wildfire. Which was probably going to make things all that much worse.

Sighing a little bit as she looked around the town, she noted that a lot of people that were walking the streets or standing around talking, had stopped to look at her and Sully. Many of them not bothering to hide their curiosity and dislike. Though she didn't know if it was for her current guardian or for her.

Frankly she didn't want to find out. A majority of the people staring at them were males of all ages.

And she didn't appreciate many of the looks that they were giving them one little bit. Making a mental note to try and steer clear of the more rough looking people, she barely noticed when Sully pulled the horse to a stop and slid down off of it's back and took the reins and tied them to a post outside of a two story whitewashed building with a sign that said, General Store hanging above the door.

Once Sully was done tying the horse up, he returned to her side and lifted her down and then carefully put her on her feet and leaned down to tell her to stay close to him. She nodded as he held out his hand to her, and took it and then let him lead her into the store.

The first thing she noticed once they were inside was that the place was cluttered with all kinds of things. The second thing that she noticed was that the elderly man standing behind the counter was giving Sully the old evil eye. While everyone else in the store seemed to move back and give the man whom had her by the hand, more room than absolutely necessary.

"What are you doing here, Sully? " The surly looking elderly man demanded in an angry tone as he glared at the man holding her hand. Kay looked at him and then glanced up at Sully who was looking down at her as he slowly released her hand and leaned down to tell her to go look around and see if she could find herself some clothing or something at the same moment someone in the store said,

"No half breeds allowed!" As Sully walked over to a display with soaps and other cleaning materials and picked up a few before snapping,

"Shut up."

His patience with others wearing thin very quickly as he kept his eyes on Kay while she walked around the store and looked around.

She found several long sleeved shirts and blouses, and four ankle length skirts, three belts, and upon looking at the dresses the store had to offer, decided against getting any. They seemed too pricey and she didn't want her new guardian to suffer financially.

She could go without the firlly, lacy nightmares and shoes for a little bit.

Though she made sure to add two pairs of pants to her small pile of clothing before heading back to where Sully was standing, having a stare off with the elderly fella, whom finally seemed to notice her as she handed her things to Sully. He looked them over with a critical eye and then glanced down at her and said, "Dresses."

She shook her head no causing the man to almost roll his eyes at her stubbornness before he reached out and took hold of her hand in one of his and led her back over to where the dresses were hung and nudged her towards the display and then told her to pick out five for the time being.

Huffing, Kay glared at the dresses and the carefully began to sort through them. It wasn't that she hated them, or even the style of them. In actuality she loved collecting things like these, especially the old time, antique stuff. There was just something very beautiful about them that she found hard to resist.

However if her current guardian wanted her to indulge a little bit, then she would- but only because she was stuck in the current era. This was _not_ something that she could do for fun anymore.

At least, not until she was older and had a job to pay for them on her own.

She found a nice rose pink colored velvet dress with a modest neckline, and white lace around the hem and the sleeves. She also found a nice sapphire satin dress with embroidery on the bodice in gold thread, with sapphire blue silk ribbons on it. The next one she found was a nice soft green with cream colored velvet and pale silk ribbons on it. The two after that consisted of an aquamarine silk dress with no silk, ribbons, or lace. Merely silver thread embroidery on the bodice and around the collar and skirt. And of course a white velvet dress with little pink and pale green flowering vines, embroidery sewn into the bodice.

Once they were in Sully's arms, he told her to look around for some ribbons or something while he walked off to look at some shawls an wraps and found at least two capes made of thick warm material that was fur lined, and perfect for winter. One was white and the other was black.

So he grabbed both of them along with two wraps and an intricately carved mother of pearl hair comb and several other things before deciding to see if Kay had found anything else.

What she found amused him greatly.

Instead of getting any ribbons like he had told her to, she had simply collected several intricate looking glass bottles with lids on them. Perfume bottles? _What on earth is she doing with those?_ He wondered as he walked over to the counter where she had everything lined up.

"What are you doing with those?"

She didn't answer, merely gave him a bored look as he laid everything in his arms down on the counter, careful not to accidentally knock the bottles over.

"Don't you want some pretty ribbons to match the dresses your getting?" He asked once his hands were free again, she looked at the perfume bottles and clothes that he'd laid down next to her stuff and merely shook her head no. She could do without ribbons and such. But she wanted a way to earn money, and one way that she knew of was to make things that she could sell.

That way Sully didn't need to worry about taking care of her so much.

Figuring that she must have a reason for wanting the glass bottles, he shrugged his shoulders and told the elderly man to ring up their things.

The man just stared at Sully for a moment before asking curiously, "Who is the girl?"

"Her name is Kay. She was found alone, at the edge of the Cheyenne village. She'd taken a really bad fall and was scratched and bruised up pretty good on top of hitting her head on something."

"So where's her family? What's she doing with you?"

"Her family's dead and she has nowhere else to go. So she's staying with me." Sully said as the elder looked down at her with a sad look.

"That's a shame about her family. She's a real pretty little thing."

"Yes, she is." Sully said as he absently reached over and tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear as the elder told him he owed ten dollars and seventy five cents. Sully counted out the money and handed it to him and the elder told him to hang on for a moment and then walked over to the shelf where the ribbons were and picked out several and cut them so that Kay would have some to use with her new dresses before he walked back over and placed them in a little bag and then held them out to her with a small friendly smile on his face.

"Here you go, sweetheart. Little girls like you should always have something nice to dress up with."

Kay tentatively reached out and took the small bag from the man, and glanced over at Sully who was watching the exchange with a peculiar expression on his face before he said, "Do you want to say 'thank you' to Loren?"

She nodded and handed him her baggy of ribbons and then walked around the counter and gave the elder a quick hug and a smile before moving back to Sully's side.

The elder, Loren watched her curiously as she went meandering off to look at something else that had caught her attention. The moment that she was out of earshot Loren asked, "What's wrong with her? Why doesn't she talk?"

"Cloud Dancing and I think that she doesn't talk due to suffering some sort of trauma."

"Trauma?"

"Hn. We know that her family is dead. We also know that about a month or so ago she was attacked by a bear..."

"A bear?!"

"Yeah, her back was split open almost from the nape of her neck down to the small of her back."

"That sounds like a serious injury!"

"It was. I'm thinking that she lost her family around the same time she was attacked. "

"But- But if that's true then how did she survive?"

"I'm not sure," Sully said honestly as several new patrons entered the shop. Some of whom were dressed in blue grey military uniforms. Complete with hats, and belts with guns and sabers. "We need to leave now." Sully said as he picked up the box that Loren's wife had carefully packed the clothing and glass bottles into and then turned to go and get Kay when he saw one of the soldiers had her in his grasp and was talking to her.

No- that wasn't exactly right.

He was demanding answers about the Cheyenne and what they were doing. For once since yesterday, Sully was happy that Kay didn't seem able to speak. He didn't want his friends to get themselves into trouble because a child said something that could be twisted around to suit the purposes of evil and prejudiced men.

 _Irked_ by the sudden turn of events, he shifted his hold on the box as he walked over to the soldier holding his ward tightly in his grasp and Sully felt the first stirrings of anger and resentment rise up within him when he noticed that Kay was trying to extract herself from the man's grasp.

"Excuse me, I think you need to remove your hands from my ward." He said once he was close enough. The man's glance flickered to him for a moment before he turned his head to look at him fully.

"This little one, yours, half breed." It wasn't a question.

"So what if she is."

"What's a mongrel like you doing with a little angel like her? Did you steal her?"

"It's none of your business." Sully said as Kay finally managed to free herself of the man's grip and stumbled back away from him and would have fallen if Sully hadn't reached out and carefully grasped one of her arms and steadied her. The moment that he was sure that she wouldn't fall, he let her go and then leaned down and told her to go to the horse and wait there.

He'd be over in a second.

She turned and began to make her way over to the horse like he had told her when she heard a crack followed by a pained yelp and a thud and turned around to see what had happened only to find Sully walking towards her with the box in his grasp, tucked carefully under one arm.

And the soldier laying on his side holding his injured and bloody face in his hands. Eyes widening in realization at what had happened to the soldier, she turned wide eyes to Sully as he brushed by her and began to secure the box to the saddle with ropes his once good mood now ruined for the moment, all because a soldier had put his filthy hands on his ward.

 _The stupid bastard is lucky I didn't feel like skinning him alive._ Sully thought darkly as he finished his task and then turned to his ward and paused just for a moment when he noted her expression.

The girl looked totally flabbergasted. As if she didn't know what to make of the fact that he had punched the soldier for laying his hands on her.

"Hey, come here." Sully said as he motioned for her to come to him. She turned her head to look at him and then glanced back towards the soldier who was slowly getting up, earning a look of annoyance from Sully since he had told the bastard to do himself a favor and stay down until the two of them were gone.

Apparently the soldier was one of those more difficult people since he had no intention of listening to Sully's warning.

Waiting until Kay was close enough, he reached out and plucked her up off of the ground and put her up in the saddle before swinging himself up behind her and casting the soldier a dirty look before turning the horse around and nudged it into motion thinking of all the things he needed to do once he was back at the village.


	5. Chapter 5

The moment that the two returned to the village, they were greeted by Sully's friend and adopted brother Cloud Dancing who held the reigns of the horse for the two while Sully placed her on the ground and then swung down from the saddle and began to untie the box from it's current resting place while Cloud Dancing asked his friend and brother how the trip into town was.

Sully spared no details. Even going so far as to tell the indian about the soldier that had grabbed Kay. When Cloud Dancing asked who- or what- Kay was, sully snorted in amusement and pointed to the girl that he'd taken responsibility of and said very calmly, yet no less proudly.

"That is Kay. I found out last night that she can write, possibly read as well. She answered some of my questions about who she is and where she's from and such."

"Her family?" Cloud Dancing asked curiously. Sully gave him a look that seemed to say everything and then some due to the fact that the indian glanced over at the girl with a sad look on his handsome face as he muttered, "Oh." As Sully took the box of clothing and stuff and carried it into his tee-pee before coming back out with a small basket full of his recently bought cleaning supplies and asking Cloud Dancing if he would mind watching her while he went and spruced up his old cabin a bit.

Cloud Dancing agreed to watch over the girl and keep her out of trouble and waved his brother off as he then went to the child and spoke with her for a moment. Telling her to stay put and be good for Cloud Dancing and he would be back later on with some freshly killed animal that they could eat for dinner.

The girl was silent as she watched her new guardian mount his horse again and then slowly leave.

Once Sully was finally gone, Cloud Dancing walked over to her and gently laid a hand on her shoulder to draw her attention to him and then said. "Do not worry little one, your guardian will return soon. Until then I can show you around the village if you like."

She seemed to be considering his offer when she suddenly held up one finger in the same manner that Sully sometimes did when he wanted Cloud Dancing to wait for a moment, and then scampered off to Sully's tee-pee and then came back with one of his brother's baskets and then skipped back over to him and took a moment to look around for what she would need for her crafts and then pointed to the field that Sully had taken her through earlier that morning.

Curious to know what she wanted from the field, Cloud Dancing let her take him by the hand and lead him in that direction. Occasionally casting curious glances down at her as they walked further and further away from the village. Once out in the middle of the field, she let go of his hand and took off like a bolt over to some wild flowers and began shifting through them.

Cocking his head slightly as his curiosity attempted to get the better of him, he watched her every move as she slowly began to collect different flowers ranging from wild roses, wisteria, lavender, lilac, violets, yucca, honeysuckle, lily of the valley, and so on before she then moved to her knees on the ground to dig up some of the yucca roots with one of Sully's hunting knives.

Once that was done, he watched as she then got to her feet and began to make her way towards some other plants. Plants that he recognized as ginger and watched as she again got to her knees and dug up the roots from several of them and used the knife to split the root open and then got up again and looked around for a moment before heading towards the creek where she had bathed that morning.

If she remembered correctly she had seen some bamboo growing there.

She started towards the creek when she felt a large hand on her shoulder and nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned her head to look at Cloud Dancing.

"Where are you going?"

She pointed to the place where the bamboo was growing, causing him to frown a little bit. Unsure of how to react to her almost leaving his sight. Huffing she tried signing something to tell him that she was merely going to collect some bamboo.

Though it occurred to her that to do her crafts she would need animal lard and water plus some cooking pots to use.

However she didn't think that Cloud Dancing cared that much about what she was trying to say to him right then. Making an irritated sound, she then thought for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of opening her mouth to use her voice at all right now. However perhaps if she asked Cloud Dancing not to tell Sully that she was speaking she would have her peace and quiet for just a while longer.

"I'd like to go over there and collect some bamboo. Are you coming?" She asked, her voice was soft, melodic despite it's disuse and she suddenly found herself with Cloud Dancing's absolute undivided attention.

"You can speak? Sully and I thought you mute."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry about that." She said as she rubbed the nape of her neck with one hand while he waved off her apology.

"Spirits say that sometimes not speaking if fine," He said as he motioned with his head towards the place she had indicated before that she wished to go. "You said that you want to collect some bamboo. May I ask what for?"

"I plan to make some scented soaps and scented water to sell in town."

Frowning a little bit, he cocked his head in a curious manner as he asked. "Why?"

"Because I don't want Sully to worry about me getting what I may want or need. Wants and needs can become expensive, especially when a kid my age is involved."

"Ah, I see. You worry that Sully raising you alone will put a strain on him."

She snorted but didn't comment. In all honesty she didn't care if Sully wanted to raise her alone or not. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, despite what others may think due to her age.

"I think it has more to do with me being raised to be as independent as possible so that I wouldn't have to lean on others for every little thing. Though I do worry that Sully may inevitably find himself in a situation of some kind that he may not be able to easily get out of." She finally said. Cloud Dancing glanced down at her as he wondered about her words. On one hand, he supposed that he could understand her thoughts about her independence and Sully. But on the other hand, he also knew that most children weren't quite so independent minded.

Most children were coddled and protected. Sheltered from as much evil in the world as possible.

Kay seemed like she was a child who had lived many years of her young life witnessing horrors that even _he_ had yet to see at his age. Which very well might be the case given how little he and his brother knew about the girl.

Finally reaching the creek, Kay carefully meandered off to do what she had come to do and after collecting several incredibly long and thick pieces, she used the knife that she had brought with her to break the stalks off several inches above the ground and then took several minutes to whittle each piece down to half their length so that there was more of them than she had actually collected and then put everything into the basket and then started back towards him before asking, "Do you know where I can get a cooking pot, and some animal lard and a mold or something for the soaps?"

Cloud Dancing snorted in amusement and told her that he should be able to collect what was needed easily enough. After which she finally told him that he couldn't tell anyone that she could speak just yet. And then explained to him her reasons until he finally promised not to say anything to Sully with the slight stipulation of the fact that she could speak, became a necessity.


	6. Chapter 6

The moment Sully reached his homestead, he pulled the horse to a stop and just stared at the cabin that he had built for his late wife and their future children and felt a deep stabbing pain in the vicinity of his chest as he stared at his broken home.

The cabin itself was still in fairly good condition despite the fact that he hadn't been anywhere near it since his wife and infant daughter's deaths about five years prior.

It was of a decent size, with a spacious living room, and a small kitchen, and three bedrooms. The master bedroom and the two smaller ones beside it where he and his wife were going to keep their children.

Swallowing past the lump in his throat, he felt his anxiety levels spike.

Being near here was much like being near a cemetery to him, it felt cold, desolate, and sent chills down your spine like someone was standing right behind you, breathing down your neck. You just couldn't see who it was. Nor could you touch them.

But you could feel their eyes on you and it chilled your blood.

Of course he was hoping that Kay's presence in his home would chase away some of those negative thoughts that still plagued him. It would be nice to see his once home filled with light and life and laughter again. And he wanted very much for Kay to like it, almost as much as his late wife had.

Studying the outside of the cabin for anything that may be in need of repair, he scanned around the cabin for a moment before letting his eyes linger on the empty flower beds that he had started for his late wife and made a mental note to collect some flower seeds and rose bushes to plant in the beds to keep them from being empty.

He also made a mental note to get some wild vegetables, corn, squash, carrots, pumpkins, and a few fruit trees like apple, oranges, and pears to grow along with maybe some blueberry bushes and blackberry, and strawberry so that they would have an abundant supply when the seasons for each one came.

Now that he thought about it- he also needed to fix up the storage space where they would be keeping their milk, chilled meats, and other things. He needed to make sure that it was clean, and that there was enough space to store what was needed for the next few months until winter hit.

Until then he'd probably be buying cows, pigs, chickens, goats, and so on along with hunting every other day to get a head start on storing food away.

Sighing, he nudged his horse into motion again and decided that he shouldn't keep putting things off. Not if he wanted to be done in time to move back in with Kay, anyways. Maneuvering the horse across the short distance to the cabin, he tugged back on the reigns once he was close enough and then jumped down and tied the animal up and then collected his cleaning materials and walked off to get some water and see what else he had lying around that he could use.

(*****************************************************************************************************************************************)

Cloud Dancing had sat inside of Sully's tee-pee for the past two in a half hours watching Kay as she worked, and he had to say- the child certainly knew what she was doing. She even seemed to enjoy what she was doing. She had even managed to make a little over thirty bars of soap so far.

Some scented like bamboo and ginger, some smelling like wisteria, others smelling like roses, yucca, honeysuckles, lilacs, lavender and lily of the valley to match the scented waters that she had already made.

And Sully, well, it amused him greatly to know that his brother would be returning to his tee-pee this evening with it smelling so sweetly like flowers and other things. Especially when his brother would find no trace of the scents filling his makeshift home.

Watching as Kay finished filling up the last bottle of scented water and placing a lid on it, she then turned to him and smiled as she held it out to him. "Here. You can take this one and give it to a friend or something as a gift." She said with a smile.

Cloud Dancing leaned forward a little bit and took the medium sized pale blue glass bottle from her hand and took a moment to take the stopper out of the top so that he could smell what scent she had just handed him. She had handed him a blend of tantalizing honeysuckle and lily of the valley.

Both smelled nice on their own, but this- this was more than nice. This was beyond words. Placing the stopped back in the top of the bottle, he eyed the girl for a moment before saying. "I know that you said that you plan to sell these in town, but would you not prefer to trade something of equal value for this?"

"I've never traded before so I think for now the whole process of trading is lost on me. But you can have it if you want. I'm sure that you must have someone that you can give it to."

His lips twitched a little bit as he nodded his head. "I do. My wife, Snow Bird."

"She must be nice."

He nodded his head again in agreement as he slowly said, "Very. And pretty as well."

"Then she should like that."

"She will." He said as she then turned away from him and went to check on the last batch of soaps that she had made before finally saying excitedly,

"Yay! They've hardened. Now all I have to do is cut them," His lips quirked as he watched her use the same knife that she had used to dig up roots earlier and began the slow and slightly tedious process of cutting the soaps into bars.

Since she had saved the bamboo and ginger stuff for last, due mostly to the fact that the soaps that she had made using that particular scent were made more for men than women- she had thought to set a few bars aside for Cloud Dancing and another for Sully as gifts.

Everything else she could sell for a bit of money that way she could branch out her work. Maybe buy some fabrics and make some clothing from them. Perhaps she could even make some jewelry.

It was certainly something to consider given that she knew how to do so.

All she needed was some beads and a few other materials and she'd be in business.

"When do you think Sully will be back?" She suddenly asked out of the blue, her question somewhat startling Cloud Dancing. His dark eyes studied her for a moment or two before flickering towards the flap of the tee-pee where he looked outside at the shadows being cast through the trees to gauge the time of day.

"An hour, maybe longer. Why do you ask?" He wondered aloud. Not really expecting her to reply.

Sighing as she finished cutting the last piece of soap with the knife, she then set the blade aside along with the other stuff and looked at him. "Do you think he would be upset if I hunted and killed our food for tonight?"

Cloud Dancing blinked almost owlishly at her. Her words not quite penetrating his mind. But the moment they did, he frowned slightly as he asked more out of curiosity than anything else. "You can hunt?"

"Yes."

"How often have you hunted?"

"Often enough."

"What kind of game?"

"Usually bears, turkeys, quail, deer. I've killed poisonous snakes before too. Mostly after being bitten but-"

"You have been bitten by venomous snakes before?" Cloud Dancing couldn't hold back the shock that he felt upon learning _that_ particular little bit of information before deciding to delve into it more. "What snakes?"

"Rattlers, cotton mouths, vipers, copper heads, cobra's, diamond backs- I think the only ones that I haven't been bitten by are king cobras, and black mamba's."

Cloud Dancing's jaw dropped open as he gaped at her in wide eyed disbelief.

He knew that the snakes mentioned were highly poisonous, and if she had been bitten- either she or the people that had raised her knew a miracle cure or she was flat out lying to him. However from what he knew of the girl so far, she wasn't a person who lied for no good reason.

Still it didn't stop him from asking her, "How are you still alive?" Which only caused her to laugh and shake her head at him before telling him with a grin.

"You sounded like my dad just now. He was always saying the same thing. Every time I got injured or bitten by a snake or got sick or something. It just never failed to amuse him that I was so accident prone that it was I literally had no common sense or survival instinct or something."

Cloud Dancing made a non committal sound. Unsure of how to respond to her words before deciding to ask, "How are you alive now if you have been bitten by such snakes? They are highly venomous and easily kill."

"I developed an immunity to the venom. As of now, I'm immune to the venom of every snake that I've ever been bitten by. So even if I got bitten again, it wouldn't hurt me- though the last time I got bitten again- I was laid up in bed with a fever for several days and even after it broke, I had difficulty taking care of myself for like a week or so."

"Did your parents never fear that you would succumb to the venoms?"

"Well, the first time I ever got bitten I was three years old, and had wandered away from my parents out in the woods. I was playing and I accidentally fell into a nest of rattlers where I was bitten a total of seventy times before I was found. Luckily one of my grandfather's had come out to visit and asked where I was, when he and my parents found me, he went back to the house to grab a kit with the anti venom in it."

"So while he gave me that to stabilize my condition, my parents called for help and I was taken to the local healer where I was taken care of. And several days after the incident I was sent home. Immune. So you see, I don't have to worry about the toxicity of the venoms. What's even better is since I'm immune, if I ever ran into anyone who needed help because they were bitten too- I could give them some of my blood and they would build up an immunity too."

This time he didn't bother gaping at her, though he supposed that he had every right to. Nevertheless what she had just told him was interesting and definitely something that he may be able to use later on if the need arose.

After all, how many of his tribe had died because of being bitten by snakes?

Fifty in a year? A hundred?

More?

How many parents lost their children to a snake's venom and how many children lost one or more siblings as well as a parent to a snake's venom? It was certainly something to ponder. And if what she said was actually true then perhaps her being immune to the venoms of so many deadly creatures was a small blessing in disguise.

At least Sully wouldn't have to worry about losing her to a snake's venom. So that was something to be thankful for seeing as his brother took the deaths of women and children particularly hard.

Feeling a small hand on his deer skin clad leg, he blinked and saw that she was right there in front of him with Sully's knife attached to her side and a bow and quiver of arrows also in her grasp.

"What are you doing with those?"

"I was going to go hunting, remember?"

He hummed and slowly moved to get up as he weighed the pros and cons of taking a girl her age hunting for anything smaller than a butterfly. Somehow in his mind, he just didn't see this ending well. Still he relented, muttering something about going to fetch his bow and arrows and then disappeared from the tee-pee with the scented water still held in his hand.


	7. Chapter 7

Later that evening when Sully finally returned to the village, he was bone weary and empty handed as far as food went. He had tried to hunt for himself and Kay- however his prey had escaped him.

And after spending just an hour in a half trying to track it down again, he had decided that since the sky was beginning to darken above him, that he would call it a day and simply ask Cloud Dancing if maybe he could trade for some food for himself and Kay for the night.

So naturally when he had seen his brother step out of his tee-pee and make a beeline for him, he was both happy to see him and about ready to collapse from all of the work he had done at the homestead today.

"Good evening, brother. How was your day?" Cloud Dancing asked as Sully took the saddle off of his horse and rubbed it down some before letting it meander off to graze in the field not too far away.

"It was something." Sully said as he turned to face his brother. Cloud Dancing looked over his somewhat haggard, and dust covered appearance for a moment before asking curiously.

"Where is your food for the evening?"

"I lost it while I was hunting." Sully replied, missing the slight twitch of his brother's lips as he made a non committal sound as Sully finally asked, "How's the girl? Did she cause any trouble?"

Cloud Dancing merely looked back towards the tee-pee where he had left Kay.

As much as he wanted to tell his brother anything and everything, he had promised the girl not to speak of certain things. And as such, he would keep his word. However he still needed to at least know that there was food so that he didn't need to worry about Kay or himself going hungry.

"She is well. I learned much of her character today."

"Oh?" Sully asked curiously as he turned his blue eyes to his brother's face. Cloud Dancing nodded his head, yes, his expression oddly somber... _strange.._.was probably the more apt word for it since Sully doubted that he had ever _seen_ such an expression on his brother's face before. "Well are you going to keep me in suspense all night or tell me what happened?" He asked, feeling somewhat amused by his brother's antics.

Cloud Dancing was silent for a moment before finally saying, "Your adopted daughter has worked very hard today. She has made some things to sell in town, soaps and scented water- She even went with me _hunting_." Cloud Dancing sounded thoroughly scandalized before he went on to say. "She is quite a hunter and tracker," At hearing this, Sully's eyes widened ever so slightly while Cloud Dancing went on to say, "She killed three rabbits and a deer. She even gutted and skinned them to prepare them for the evening meal, and then she even shared _half_ of her kill with me and my family so that we would not go without!"

Sully's eyebrows disappeared underneath his bangs for a moment as Cloud Dancing then pulled something that looked like a cookie out of a leather pouch and held it out for Sully to see as he then said, "She even made these! She called them Molasses and berry cookies. I don't know what those are- But the chief of the village has been following me around since trying one earlier, wanting them." No sooner had those words left his lips than the very man Cloud Dancing had just mentioned came waltzing by and snatched the food out of Cloud Dancing's hand, causing his brother to look at the man's retreating back oddly.

Cloud Dancing looked from Sully to the back of the chief's head and pointed at the man as he disappeared as if to say, _You see! You see what I've been putting up with in your absence!_

Causing Sully to bite his lower lip in an effort _not_ to laugh at his brother's comical expression.

It was obvious that Cloud Dancing was more than feeling out of his element where Kay was concerned. It was also obvious just from their conversation that Kay was an extremely talented child.

Careful not to laugh at his brother, he bid him a goodnight and told the disgruntled man to go home and rest. Cloud Dancing had merely grunted and meandered off almost dazedly causing Sully to shake his head as he slowly made his way to his tee-pee and began to enter it when the combined scents of fragrant flowers, spice, bamboo and cooked food caught his attention.

And there, on the bed lay Kay, curled up on her side asleep on top of the furs. Her long dark hair fanned out over an arm that she was using as a pillow at that moment. Her legs were drawn up almost to her chest underneath her skirt and her small feet were bare.

She looked comfortable to Sully. Which was why he didn't bother waking her as he moved over to the fire pit where she had carefully arranged for the food to be kept warm without overcooking or burning it, and fixed himself something to eat.

The food was good. The meat tender and carefully spiced, the vegetables that had been cooked to go with the meat were cooked to perfection, and once he was finished eating his dinner, he managed to find some of those cookies that Cloud Dancing had told him about just a few minutes ago and tried one.

He almost moaned aloud from the delicious taste of the combination of sweet berries and molasses on his tongue. The cookies were wonderful. Which was perhaps how he managed to eat four more before stopping himself and deciding to put some aside as a snack for tomorrow when he was gone back to the homestead.

Once he had finished eating his fill and put some of the cookies that she had made away, he made a mental noted to ask her to show him how to make them, and then moved on to check out the other stuff that Cloud Dancing had told him of.

The thirty or so bars of soap was kind of a shock to him. So was the fifteen or so scented water's that she had made.

Sighing because he knew he'd be going back into town in another day or so, he then carefully packed a basket full of the items and set it aside for the time being. It seemed as if he would have to agree with Cloud Dancing. Kay was a very exceptionally talented child.

It was no wonder that she had managed to survive on her own after her family's deaths.


	8. Chapter 8

The next few days went much the same way for Sully and Cloud Dancing. Though by the evening of the third day, Sully was fairly certain that Kay was playing with Cloud Dancing to the point where his brother was almost ready to start ripping his hair out.

It was right about then that Sully decided to take a small break from working on the homestead and take her into town again so that she could sell her soaps and scented waters. So once again, as per the first day she had been under his care. He had woken her up early and taken her down to the creek to bathe.

Though this time it didn't escape his notice that she had brought along one of her own handmade soaps to use to wash herself. And like the first day, he sat himself on the tree roots above the creek bed and watched as she scrubbed her skin and her hair with the soap and then rinsed herself off really well.

After which she waded out of the water and wrapped herself in the large piece of clothe that he had brought for her to towel off with and then dressed herself in a long sleeved, dark green button up shirt and a black ankle length skirt with ruffles around the hem of it and then slipped on her shoes.

Obviously not caring for the leggings that she was supposed to wear underneath her skirt since she discarded them. Well, perhaps discarded wasn't exactly the right word for it. She simply refused to wear them, apparently not caring that she was supposed to for modesty's sake.

So after a short (very short in his opinion) argument about why she should wear them, he relented and picked up the article of clothing and together they went back to the village and prepared for their trip. Once they were there, Kay quickly put away her towel and soap as Sully grabbed the basket that he had carefully and meticulously packed her things in and went outside the tee-pee to wait on her.

Finally after several moments, she came out and moved to stand next to him while he carefully placed the basket on the ground and then lifted her up onto the back of his horse and then once she was comfortably seated in the saddle, he bent down and picked up the basket and then handed it to her with a small smile as she looked down at it and blushed a pretty, fetching shade of pink before he then swung himself up in the saddle behind her.

The trip into town was much like the first one.

Quiet yet comfortable. During which time the two spent simply enjoying the view of the world around them until they ran out of wilderness to enjoy that is. As before, they rode for about an hour before finally reaching town and just like last time, everyone on the street (especially the men hanging around) were staring at them _oddly_.

Sure there was still a great deal of resentment, disgust and other things in the expressions, but there was also curiosity from some of them. A preacher, a barber, and a man with mid back length, wavy sandy blond-ish colored hair whom had just stepped outside of the saloon.

She could also see some soldiers hanging around, one of which was the man that Sully had injured during their last visit into town.

Pulling his horse to a stop outside of the general store, Sully slipped off of the horse and then reached up and helped her down from the saddle and then bent down at the waist to tell her to stay closer to him, just in case someone started something.

She nodded her head in agreement and then slipped her hand into his own as he took the slightly heavy basket from her and the two of them entered the General Store.

(**00**)

Loren looked away from the shelf that he was dusting when he heard some people walk into his store and saw that it was Sully again. And he had brought the pretty little thing that he'd had the last time, with him again as well. Frowning as the girl walked over to his counter with Sully, he watched curiously as the half breed placed the basket that he was holding in his hands on the counter and then began to tug off his deer skin gloves with the fringe running up the sides.

Which Loren wasn't overly fond of Sully because he blamed him for the death of his daughter and grandchild, he would at least be civil and tolerate his presence. For the little girl's sake, at least.

Though he wasn't entirely sure about what to make of her taking up with the man anymore than he knew what to think of the man taking up with her.

Frankly in his opinion, it was unnatural just how close the two of them seemed.

Still...

Moving away from the shelf and setting his feather duster aside, he walked over to where the two were standing and noted vaguely that several more people entered his shop. A few angry looking soldiers, the reverend, Hank and Jake Slicker were among just a few of them.

"Sully, what brings you here again so soon?" He asked as the man did a quick sweep of his store in his usual manor. Already sizing up the others that he deemed trouble makers.

"I have a few things that Kay made that she would like to sell to you."

At this, Loren's eyebrows disappeared underneath his bangs, showing his surprise at the statement as he moved closer to the counter to take a slight gander at what was in the basket.

When he was close enough, he paused for a moment as he smelled the combined scents of yucca, lilac, lavender, honeysuckle, wisteria, and roses as well as the oddly tangy scent of something with some sort of spice to it.

Frowning, he reached in and picked up an item- a bar of soap- and held it up to his nose and sniffed it before blinking his eyes in surprise. Now he had been in the marketing business for over thirty years, and had sold many a pieces of handmade soap- _but this_ \- what he was currently holding, was what was considered a specialty item.

High quality too.

Worth a lot of money. Well, such things usually sold for somewhere between five dollars and ten. Which after seeing how many bars there were, he decided would be worth it if he could somehow managed to sell the items in his store of twenty.

Placing the bar of soap on the counter next to the basket, he then reached it and picked up one of the glass bottles that he had sold the two previously and uncorked it and took a sniff of the liquid inside of it and blinked again.

Scented water, another specialty item of high quality, usually sold for fifteen dollars per bottle. The scents that she had used would obviously be popular among the women in town, so he had no worry about whether or not they would sell. And there was six bottles there, which wasn't even half the number that he had sold to the two.

After taking a quick glance at the items and mentally counting how many items were there, he then scratched his head for a second and then decided on a price that he'd be willing to give the girl.

It was a mite expensive, after all it wasn't everyday that he gave someone two hundred dollars. Usually he tended to haggle a bit, but since the items were of such good quality and made by a little girl- well, maybe he'd luck out and she'd decide to blow some of her earnings on some stuff so that he got some of it back.

Sully stood there, staring his down like a mother bear or something as he rested his hands on the little gal's slender shoulders, waiting for him to say something when he finally sighed and said. "Okay, this is what I'm going to do. It doesn't feel right to cheat a little girl, so I'm going to pay full price for each item and give you some store credit that you can use if need be. Does that sound alright?"

Sully's lips twitched as he glanced down at Kay, waiting to see what her response would be. He smiled when she nodded in agreement as the old man meandered off to get her money.

The second that his back was turned Sully picked the child up and hugged her, laughing softly as he rested his forehead against her own, causing her to blush that same pretty color of pink that she had blushed before and after giving her a quick kiss on the brow he then set her down and let her wander off to look around as Loren meandered back with a wad of cash in his hands.

"Here you go." He said as he handed over the two hundred dollars before then saying, "If it's acceptable to you, Sully, I'll give her about seventy dollars worth of credit to use at any time. And if she has anymore stuff she'd like to sell sometime, bring her by."

"Oh I plan to. Something tells me that that little gal is already planning out her next three moves."

"What?"

"It's a strategy term from a game called chess. Usually the only ones who play it are people who are really talented and educated."

"Oh. Does she play?"

"Dunno. But if she does, then she's a good deal smarter than any of us." Sully said as he pocketed the money and told Loren that he supposed since she was looking around, they would see what she found next. Loren nodded his head and waved the man off as he tried to wrap his head around what Sully had said about the little girl.

(**00**)

Kay meandered around the store picking up some needs, four dozen large spools of several different colored threads ranging from emerald, to aquamarine to mint, to lilac, several different shades of blue, silver and gold and bronze. After which she found some velvet clothe, one of which was in a vivid and bold red color, another was snow white, another was a muted pink, another was a lovely peach color with gold embroidery trim and the last one a black color. After which she then managed to find buttons, and satin in sapphire, pale yellow, lavender, crimson, and aqua.

Hearing a masculine chuckle, she tuned her head to look where the sound was coming from, but sadly she couldn't see over the top of the stuff she had in her hands. At least nit until the person who had laughed, took her things from her with a lightly spoken, "You look like you've run out of space there. Let me hold these for you and you can finish looking around."

She blinked her green eyes almost dazedly at the dark haired man wearing the...preacher outfit. Of course. She thought as he smiled down at her.

He was one of the curious ones. Curious to know where she came from, what she was doing there and what she was doing with Sully. She could see it in his eyes as she slowly moved away from him to see where her current guardian was only to find him looking at something on a shelf several feet away.

"Oh, he didn't leave you." The preacher said as he took note of her slightly subtle actions.

She looked back at him blankly, almost as if to say to him, _Well duh_. Causing his smile to become somewhat strained as he watched her take several more steps towards Sully before reaching out absently and placing her hand on his leg and patting the area under her hand to get his attention.

Sully glanced away from the trinkets that he had been looking at as potential gifts for Kay, just for fun, and saw her point at something and followed her arm with his eyes until he saw the preacher and walked over and carefully took some of the items from him with a mumbled apology.

The reverend said nothing, he merely nodded his head in silent thanks before asking, "Who is she?"

"Hn, oh, Reverend Tim- meet Kay. Kay, this is reverend Tim. Our local pastor." The man smiled at her again and she nodded her head at him in greeting and then turned and began to walk towards where Loren kept the ribbons display while trying to ignore the ever present whispers of the soldiers and the other people in the show.

Choosing instead to focus on her current task instead as Sully and the reverend struck up a small conversation.

"So how are you?" Tim asked the half breed in his usual friendly manner. Despite what people may say about Indians and half breeds, the reverend liked Sully. The man was not only friendly, compassionate and kind to a fault. But he was also fiercely loyal and protective of what he deemed his.

This of course included people like himself, Cloud Dancing, and many others.

However the people of town knew better than to cross the man. A half breed he may be, but he was no damn _unintelligent_ slouch in a fight. In fact he could be downright calculating and vicious depending on the situation.

Which was just another reason why he was so curious to know about the little girl.

Who was she? What was she doing with Sully? She didn't exactly _look_ like she was a half breed, though her skin color and dark hair certainly belied that fact. And the color of her eyes made it easy to accidentally believe that she was a white kid maybe of half Spanish descent or something.

After all unless a person knew what to look for when looking at her- not being able to place her origins for what they were- was an easy mistake to make.

Sully watched the girl like a hawk as he absently responded to Tim's question. Saying that he was doing well and little else when the reverend finally got up the courage to ask, "I don't mean to be offensive Sully but... Who is that girl and why is she with you?"

Sully gave him a brief, _very brief_ in his opinion, glance. His blue eyes barely flickering in his direction for a moment before going back to the girl's form.

Tim frowned at this slight display of possessiveness. But only because the man was acting as if someone would come into the store and snatch the child for some malicious reason. True there was no fear behind his gaze, he was totally sure that he would be able to stop anyone from trying to make such an attempt if need be- however he did seem worried about the child, if nothing else.

"Her name is Kay, I have no idea what her last name is since she hasn't seen fit to tell me. And she's with me because I've taken her in."

"Taken her in? As in adopted?" Tim asked with a slight tilt of his head.

Sully merely nodded his head, yes as the reverend fell silent for a moment before asking, "What of the girl's family?"

"They are dead."

"How?"

"Cloud Dancing and I, when we found her, she was dressed strangely. Her clothing are high quality stuff that you would only see in a big city, or that's our guess anyways. She had taken a bad fall down one of the steep inclines at the creek outside of the Cheyenne village. And when we got her and brought her to the village to take care of her..." Everyone in the General Store was listening to Sully speak now.

And Kay had never had the nearly irresistible urge to commit mass murder.

Just who the hell did these people think they were? They should stop gossiping about her like a bunch of sissies with nothing better to do with their time, and mind their own business! She thought with a huff as she pulled down some sapphire blue, emerald green, crimson, and peach colored satin ribbons and then continued to scan the other colors while contemplating throwing something at someone's head just for fun.

She'd bet that that would shut everybody up real quick.

"We found a scar on her back that's maybe about a month old. It's a bad wound. Possibly mortal. And she got it from a bear attack. Cloud Dancing and I believe that she must have lost her parents and such to the bear when it attacked her. We have no idea how she managed to survive, but she did. Anyways, the wound doesn't look totally healed and on top of that she's in a new and unfamiliar place with a lot of people that she doesn't know. Without her family around she had nowhere else to go. So I took her in. And I guess that she doesn't mind that fact." Sully said as Kay finished collecting some silk ribbons and then went on to grab some oat's, molasses, a little bag of sugar, and then walked over and carefully set them on top of everything in Sully's hands and then slowly stood back and pointed to the counter.

Indicating to him that she was done with her shopping.

"Done now?" Sully asked curiously, his tone amused though he felt somewhat curious to know what she was planning to do with the stuff she was planning to get now.

The ribbons, buttons, threads and sewing needles and fabrics were easy enough to figure out the purpose for. So was the food stuffs. But everything else...not so much.

Still, he motioned with his head for the reverend to follow him over tot he counter so that he could put his arm full of stuff down and then let the man step back before he also set his burden down.

Loren looked from the pile of stuff to the girl, then back again and shook his head as he began to ring up her items. The total was fifty dollars. And once he had his money in his hands, he tried to silently will the girl to go look at something else, however that didn't seem to work any on her since she just stood there watching as Sully put what up the rest of her money before finally saying as he helped the elder pack the things away.

"I think the next time she decides to sell something, she's going to bring a few more soaps, scented waters, and maybe some of her baked goods too."

"She has more of those soaps and scented waters?"

"Yeah. You should taste her berry and molasses cookies too."

"Really? Are they good?"

"I brought some with me if you wanna try one."

Loren looked as if he were thinking over the offer for a moment before finally relenting, earning an amused smile from Sully as he fished one of the cookies from the leather pouch attached to his belt and handed it to him. And stood there watching in wry amusement as the old man glanced between him and Kay and then muttered, "Just so you know, if she's poisoned these- I _will_ come back to haunt you both." Before taking a big bite and slowly chewing the piece in his mouth.

His expression telling Sully and Kay everything that he was thinking.


	9. Chapter 9

Sully couldn't _stop_ chuckling as he and his adopted daughter stepped out of the General Store. Loren was just so damn easy it was almost pitiful. The moment that he'd taken a bite out of the cookie that Sully had give to him, the man had all but gushed about how he would give Kay as much as seven dollars per batch of cookies she decided to sell to him.

Of course this had stirred up Jake, Hank and the reverend to the point where all three had wanted to try one of the cookies as well. After which Hank had decided that he wouldn't mind a few dozen, and the reverend had asked if Kay could make some for a church event that would occur within the next few weeks or so.

Both had offered to pay her for her hard work as well.

So by the time they stepped out of the store, Sully figured that his adopted daughter had probably earned herself another seventy dollars or more from her baked goods alone.

Which is why Kay had decided to go ahead and buy thirteen empty tins to put the stuff in.

Once outside, Sully carefully put a majority of Kay's things in the saddle bags but had to leave the fabrics and tins in the box along with the oats, sugar and molasses- which he simply set aside for the time being so that he could go and conduct some other business with the blacksmith.

He needed to see about purchasing a wagon and a horse for Kay to ride. And the last time he had been over by the blacksmith's, he had noted that one of the horses in the pen beside the building was a beautiful pitch black young adult horse that looked like it would suit Kay better than a war horse like his own.

Looking down at her, he reached out and lightly ran his fingers through her long dark hair as he leaned down and asked, "Hey, how would you like your own horse?"

She blinked up at him and he snorted in amusement at her expression.

She looked cute while she was mulling things over. He thought to himself as she looked at his horse and then slowly back at him. Her expression looking somewhat... _worried_ to him.

"Look, you're going to need a horse so that you can ride into town and such on your own eventually. Besides I also need to look into getting us a wagon so that we can haul your things back to the village. You don't have to worry about riding any horses today aside from my own. I just want you to be open to the idea. Okay?"

Kay hesitated for a moment and then nodded her head. Seeing this as well as noting her reluctance, Sully leaned in and kissed her temple before moving away from her a little bit and began walking towards the blacksmith's.

Whereas Kay just stood there for a moment before huffing and then silently following him.

(**00**)

"So...that little kid is Sully's adopted daughter. _Interesting_." Hank said as his calculating gaze fell on the child's small form as he polished off what was left of the cookie that he'd been given, that the kid had made.

"Interesting isn't what I would call it. Sully's a half breed, allowing him to keep that little girl is just _unnatural_." Hanks good friend Jake said as he walked over to where Hank was and watched through the open door as Sully reached back almost absently and grasped the girl's hand as he slowed his gait so that she wouldn't fall behind or get separated from him.

"Somehow I don't really think that Sully's affairs are any of you gentlemen's business. Especially if it concerns that little one." Reverend Tim said in a slightly scathing tone that had both of the men looking at him strangely.

"You don't think that maybe the kid should be with her own kind?" Jake asked in a scandalized tone as Hank stared down the reverend.

"I think that the good lord has placed Kay in the most suitable hands since I doubt that Hank could raise her to be anything but a whore for his saloon- and you will _not_ stand there and deny that the thought has crossed your mind, Hank. I may be a man of the cloth but I am not a fool. And you Jake, would simply raise her to be a drunkard- if she managed to survive any of your binges, that is. So keep your noses out of Sully's business."

Hank sneered at him as he said, "I ain't got my nose in Sully's business. I'm thinking about the girl's future." Thoughts of the pretty little gal all grown up and ready for a man, dancing through his mind.

"Sully won't let you con her into signing any contracts to entertain at your saloon, so you better drop the subject." The reverend said in a warning tone. But Hank just laughed at him. The thought of Sully making any attempt to save the girl if she was dumb enough to sign one of his contracts was funny given that the half breed tended to steer clear of his saloon.

(**00**)

Sully had just wrapped up his business transaction with the blacksmith he then walked over to Kay who was eyeing her horse as if it had just bitten her and leaned down to ask what she thought of it. She merely made a low growling sound, reminding him of a small dog or something and then huffed.

Apparently vexed for some reason.

Studying her for a moment, he mulled over what the problem could be before it hit him- she wasn't very fond of horses. Either that or she didn't know how to ride one on her own.

Maybe a combination of both, He mused as he saw her reach out and pat her new horse's nose gently. Confusing him somewhat especially now that it had occurred to him that she didn't like the animal.

"You don't think much of her do you?" He asked after a few moments of silence. Kay looked away from the horse that she had mentally dubbed, Black Beauty, and gave him a blank look. Indicating that she was neither pleased nor terribly displeased but sully got the general idea since he couldn't sense any hostility towards the animal from her as he said, "I'm going to go get your things and my horse and we'll take the wagon back to the village, okay."

Kay nodded and then pointed to the horse, indicating that she'd stay put while he did what he had to so that they could leave town as he nodded his head and walked off.


	10. Chapter 10

It'd been almost a month since Kay had been found and taken in by Sully and in that time the two had recently moved to the homestead where Sully spent a few days setting things up outside after Kay had recently sold two of the dresses that she had made and hand embroidered at the general store.

The price of which had shockingly enough had surprised Sully.

Yet she had made more than enough to buy some vegetable seeds, some other odds and ends to work on, and to give him some money to go buy a few dozen head of cattle, two dozen chickens, five baby goats, seven or so turkey's, nine pheasants, six pigs and four horses.

All of which, had cost close to eight hundred and seventy dollars in total.

Currently he was working on a new fence for a pen- though he had no idea what it was Kay had wanted to put in there. She had been very specific that if he would put up another two fences, one at least a mile big that could be opened up into the field on occasion, then she would go hunting and fill them up with animals that she'd bring back with her.

To say that he was curious as to what she could fill the pen up with, was an understatement to say the least. In actuality, he was _dying_ to know what his girl was up too.

But she had been refusing to tell him. Claiming that she simply wanted to surprise him so that he'd have to leave her be. At the moment she was inside making some more of those wonderful berry and molasses cookies as well as baking a few other things for tomorrows church event and for the two of them to enjoy.

Sully would be lying if he said that he wasn't looking forward to tomorrow after church. He just hoped that she would set aside a batch of the cookies for the two of them to enjoy.

He had noticed of late that she seemed more tired than usual. And had even caught her collapsing several times, and though she said that she was fine- he was a little bit hard pressed to completely believe her. Especially since just last night he had caught her falling asleep while waiting on dinner to finish cooking.

He'd tried to rouse her by shaking her awake, but hadn't been able to. So he'd simply picked her up and removed her from the table so that she could sleep in her bed.

He knew the cause of her exhaustion. Had witnessed others like her making themselves sick making things and stuff. Some people simply took on far too much of a work load.

And that was exactly what she was doing.

No- that wasn't quite right. It's what she'd been doing from the get go, though he didn't _totally_ understand the reasons behind her behavior- he knew enough to know that she didn't want to be of burden to him.

He understood that, he could even respect it- but she didn't need to work herself to the damn bone so much to help out.

And he wasn't going to lie, she _did_ help out. She cooked, and sewed for him inbetween working on her stuff. She also kept the house unbelievably clean. She did! He didn't exactly know how she did it, given how tired she was and how often she worked on her stuff, but she did nevertheless.

And in town the other day she'd special ordered some roses in such pretty pinks and yellows and reds. Along with some more exotic stuff to plant around the house and make it look nicer. She had even planted some seeds from the Lorne's store, lavender, snapdragon's, daisies and the like that would look amazing coupled with the roses and more exotic flowers.

She had spent about two hundred in total on them, mostly because she had gotten some apple tree's and pear trees too to surprise him when he had commented on getting some soon to plant an orchard.

He was so lost in thought that he completely missed her coming outside with some food and a cup of something to drink for him, wearing one of her little outfits that he'd bought for her. "Sully! Lunch time!" He blinked upon hearing her voice calling out to him and smiled, wondering what his little one had come up with today.

The other day she had fried up some fish that he'd caught down at the creek. Nice big fat ones. And he'd ate a nice hearty meal of fish, some green beans, corn and some fresh bread slathered in the butter that he'd made. It'd been delicious. And the day after that, he's had slow cooked beef with onions and mushrooms and some mashed potato's.

Which had been mouthwateringly good and tender all at once that he'd ate so much that his stomach had ached afterwards.

Today he believed that she must have whipped him up something using some of the left overs from last night since there was nothing left of the slow cooked beef from the night before. He'd made sure to take some with him the other day when he went out to visit Cloud Dancing and had taken enough for him and his brother to eat for lunch while they hunted.

Kay walked up to him wearing one of the outfits that he'd bought for her. The black ankle skirt with the ruffles, and the white button up blouse with the little pearl buttons, and a little black satin ribbon tied in a bow peeking from underneath her shirt collar.

Her long dark hair was up in a high ponytail and held in place by another black ribbon.

"Kay, how are you feeling today? Did you sleep okay?" Sully asked as he reached out and took the plate of food, sandwiches and left over mashed potato's with milk. It didn't hold as much flair as the other meals that she had been making for him so far, but that was easy to overlook given how good everything usually was and how exhausted she still looked.

"I slept okay." She said in a slight huff. Her soft tan skin still looked somewhat pale to him despite her assurances and he sighed and moved to seat himself on the ground a few inches away from the post that he'd been working on. Once seated, he patted the ground next to him and waited for her to sit herself down before he said.

"You know that you don't have to be up and working today. You can rest a while longer. I don't mind if you take a couple days."

"I don't need too. There's too much to do."

"I don't want you to keep working so hard. You're making yourself sick." Sully said insistently. Kay flinched. She actually, visibly flinched upon hearing his words and slowly nodded her head before saying.

"I have only a little bit left to do. Once it's done, I was going to stop making the big stuff- like dresses, and scented waters for about a month. I was going to keep making the soaps, maybe take it slower on a few more dresses, and the cookies. So you don't have to worry about me making myself sick. I was also thinking that during my down time," She had such a peculiar way of speaking sometimes, Sully mused to himself as he reached out and picked up half of the sandwich and brought it to his mouth and took a bite as he refocused on her words. "I was going to see about getting my hands on some beads and stuff and making some jewelry. I'd like to have some to go with some of the dresses that I'm making."

Carefully chewing his food before swallowing, he tilted his head to the side ever so slightly and asked. "You make jewelry too?"

She blushed a little bit and smiled kinda shyly up at him as she said, "Yeah. My mom and Grandma both ran their own company, and taught me hoe to make clothing and jewelry and such when I was really little. I make my first pieces when I was five. And they were so proud that they put them in their shop and sold them for nine hundred and seventy dollars."

Sully choked a little bit on his milk as he stared at her wide eyed in shock before finally rasping out.

"Nine hundred and seventy dollars!"

"Yeah. I tried to talk them down on the price but they didn't want to hear any of it. It was a really pretty piece with an old Victoria cameo carved out of green jade, which upon further thinking on- was by itself worth millions up until I took it out of it's original setting. And the rest of the necklace was pearl and crystal. It was four strands- and the pattern in the beads was floral. It was really advanced for a kid. Even for most adults. But the work and the beads themselves were well worth it."

"After that, I made three more pieces. Not quite like the first, but similar enough to bring in over one thousand and eighty nine dollars and ninety nine cents. Mom and Grandma decided then and there that everything that I made would go into their company and they would sell it for me and put some of the money back for me to use if I decided to go into business for myself."

Sully set his food and drink down for a second and tried to think of what to say. But really what could he say to a heiress? Especially if that was her long term goal in life.

He had no right to dissuade, or naysay her objective if that was what she wanted.

Her family would have been supportive of her. He should be too, right?

"I-Is that what your trying to do? Get ready to go into business for yourself? Is that why your working so hard?"

"Well- I'm not going to lie and say that it wouldn't be interest or fun to give it a try. And depending on how long I stay in business, when the town finally grows a bit more, it would mean having more high quality items to sell which would bring new blood to the town and in the long run it would create growth and even new jobs for some of the people."

Sully nodded, following her so far.

"Also part of having a good business, is having a good reputation as far as the goods that you sell," Again, he nodded his head in understanding. "But at the same time, if I did go into business for myself- I wouldn't stop at just one store or place. My long term goal in the business world would be to expand the horizons of the people here. Create places where people could work and feel proud of their achievements."

Sully's lips quirked a little bit at her words before he made a thoughtful humming sound and said, "You sound as if you have everything figured out."

"Well, no- not everything. But I think I would start out with two small business's and see what happened. If they did well, then I'd be able to help Lorne's general store expand instead of going under, and I would even be able to special order some stuff from the cities like medicine's for both the town and it's people and the Cloud Dancing's village. Also, I'd like it if Cloud Dancing and his people would occasionally come into town and trade with me."

"You wouldn't mind?" Sully asked her before tacking on. "Even if people protested their presence and stopped shopping in your store?"

Her response to his question was to deadpan, "I do not negotiate with terrorists."

Whatever that meant. He took it as meaning that she didn't give a damn about the public's opinion. She obviously intended to think of a way for everyone to benefit from her abilities. And he couldn't say that the idea of what she wanted, didn't interest him.

It did. And he would bet that it would interest a great many others as well.

"Okay. Let's say that you did go into business for yourself. Aside form a place to sell your jewelry, dresses, soaps and scented water- what kind of place would the second one be? What would it offer the town?"

"A diner."

"A diner."

"Uh-huh. A diner. Big cities have these fantastic eateries that have all kinds of foods form all over the world. I can bring some of that here. Open a nice place, fins some others to help out with the customers and the cooking when I'm not there. They would be paid decent wages. At least twenty dollars for every three hours that they work. But it would open in the morning and go through lunch on some days and on others it'd be open for dinner. Like on Sunday's. That way anyone who didn't want to cook on Sunday could stop by with their families. We could even do special's for specific occasions, like holidays, weddings and so on."

Sully smiled as he listened and thought of how many people in town would be clamoring for such a job. His poor girl didn't know what she was getting herself into here. Despite how sound her idea was.

Still, he knew a few people in town that were a bit worse off than others and would appreciate a decent wage for their work. And twenty dollars for every three hours, was more than generous.

Which made him wonder, how much was she willing to pay someone working for her at the other place? It would probably be the same amount since she didn't seem the type to treat anyone poorly. Regardless of their background. Though just to be sure, he'd introduce her to one of his friends in town soon.

After all, just because she had nothing against Indians like Cloud Dancing didn't mean that she didn't have prejudices against others. And if she did, he needed to break her of it before she got too old and set in her ways.

"How much more do you need to do today before you're done?" Sully asked, wondering if she had finally finished the pretty little pink colored dress that she had been working on as well as the cookies for tomorrow's church social.

"I still have a little bit of embroidery left to do on the dress. After that I should sew on the buttons and be done."

"Do you plan to sell it too?" Sully asked, wondering what she was intending to wear to church tomorrow.

"No. I plan to keep it and at least two others."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. The pink one, a yellow, and the white one that I finished a little while back."

Sully made a thoughtful humming sound as he recalled the yellow and white dresses, they were both pretty. And either one would do for tomorrow's event. But he couldn't help but wonder what the pink one would look like once she finished it. She did such excellent work with such _beautiful_ detail that he couldn't help himself from asking which one she was planning on wearing.

She merely gave him a slow, slightly devious looking grin that made his heart do weird flip flop in his chest and simply stated that he'd have to wait and see as she slowly got up and then dusted herself off and left him to finish his now, late, lunch and milk.


	11. Chapter 11

"Nervous?" Sully asked Kay the next morning when he'd turned around just after finishing tying his tie so that he could see how she looked, and sucked in a ragged breath and held it for a moment as he looked her over.

She'd decided to wear the pink dress that she had finished yesterday. And though he had known how well it had turned out just by looking at it, it looked striking on Kay. Or rather the girl herself looked striking in it.

Honestly he'd never seen a child so lovely before in his life.

The soft, off pink was set off by the interwoven and complex pattern of mint green and aquamarine embroidery along the front of the bodice of the modest dress, along the pink ribbon sash, and the sleeves. Kay's dark hair had been thoroughly brushed and the top part of her hair carefully pulled back and woven into an intricate knot that was held in place by a ribbon with a folded and sewn satin flower, while the rest of her tresses hung loosely down her back.

She had taken off her bracelets and choker necklace and looked a little bit uncomfortable, underneath his gaze.

Her small right hand occasionally going to the long sleeve of her dress to try and tug it down around her wrist a little bit more, before going to her throat in a subconscious gesture that was all too endearing as Sully gave her a slow walk around to check her out at all angles before finally saying, "Wow. Just...wow. You look- I mean- _Wow_." It wasn't often that he was at a total loss for words.

Really it wasn't, but he certainly was right now.

Christ almighty! He could barely take his eyes off of her! And she was still just a little girl, he had no idea what he was going to do once she started budding into a woman. He'd probably take to shooting any young boys or men who came all the way out to try and woo her.

"Please say something more than wow." Kay pleaded in a slightly shaky tone that caught his immediate attention and caused him to frown at her.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing is wrong, nothing at all- can we go now?" She said quickly as she brushed past him to collect the tins of cookies that she had made for the church social event today. She had already picked up three and was in the process of reaching for the last one when she saw Sully reach out and stop her by laying his hand on her own before she could finish snatching the cookie tin as he asked again.

"What's wrong? You're acting funny."

"Nothing. Let's just go." She said quietly as she snatched the tin and piled it on top of the others in her arms and then made a beeline straight for the door, leaving Sully standing there wondering what was going on.

* * *

The ride into town was a tense and uncomfortable one, mostly because Sully couldn't get Kay to tell him what was wrong with her. He was sure that she had been fine earlier. Excited even. And now...she didn't seem to be excited anymore. She didn't even seem to really care to be outside.

Much less going to church.

Sneaking another glance in her direction, he noted that she wasn't even paying attention to anything. She was just...staring ahead blankly. Frowning, it was on the tip of his tongue to try and coax her into talking to him again. But at the last moment sighed and simply left her alone knowing that she would likely speak up later.

The moment that they were in town, sully drove the wagon straight to the church and parked it along the fence and then climbed down and then moved around the wagon after tying off the horse's reigns and helped Kay down. Once down, she took a moment to smooth out her skirt before noting that he was waiting on her and then walking over to him and shifting the tins so that she could free one of her hands, and slipped it in his own and waited.

Sully gave her hand a light squeeze to reassure her that whatever was bugging her- he was right there if she needed him, and together the two of them walked across the little wooden bridge leading to the small path that they would have to walk to get to the church.

Sully greeted some of the other people that had gathered there. While Kay merely tried not to fidget under the scrutiny of the young girls and the rest of the people present.

It wasn't until they had reached, Reverend Tim that she seemed to snap out her funk as Sully finally let go of her hand so that he could shake hands with the man before the pastor looked down at her and gave her a friendly smile before greeting her and telling her how pretty she looked. And then asked her where she had gotten her dress.

She was so embarrassed that she couldn't seem to find the words to speak. So Sully took pity on her and placed his hands on her tiny shoulders and said proudly, "She made the dress and the ribbon with the flower in her hair, herself."

"Oh? Did she? Well she does such pretty work. Maybe one day to help raise funds for the church she can make us a few things to sell." Tim said as Sully lightly squeezed her slender shoulders and merely said,

"As long as she remembers to rest and eat properly I have no problem with that. She told me that she'd like to start making some jewelry next. I'm sure that the ladies in town would like some new baubles."

Tim chuckled as he commented that Lorne would just love that. He was making money hand over fist from selling her stuff as it was.

Not long after the conversation ended, the church bell rang and Sully carefully tugged her along behind him as they went inside along with everyone else.

They were inside the church for about an hour and a half when the reverend decided to stop preaching and said that he wished that they could have someone play the piano while they said final prayer, but there was no one with any musical talent present as of yet- causing Kay to sigh and raise her hand, drawing several people's attention as the pastor zeroed in on her and asked her if she had a question.

She shook her head no and pointed at the piano at which time Sully leaned up in his seat and asked her if she could play, and got a small nod in response. Which in the end led to her being pushed out of her seat and partially shoved down the short isle between the rows of pews until she reached the front of the church, and went over to the piano and sat down and looked it over for a second before placing her fingers on the keys and slowly began playing, Amazing Grace while the pastor quickly led everyone in prayer and dimissed them so that they could all go outside and eat.

* * *

Once outside, Kay looked around as Sully came up behind her and gently placed his hands on her small shoulders and leaned down to kiss the top of her head before pulling away with a grin and saying, "You know, I knew that you were talented. Being as you do so many things all the time. But I didn't know that you could play the piano too. Can you do anything else that I don't know about yet?"

"Maybe." Was all that she could think to say in response to his question.

He tilted his head to the side a little bit as he wondered what she meant by her somewhat cryptic answer and thought on it for a moment or so before finally shrugging his shoulders and telling her that he was going to go and grab the blanket that he had remembered to put in the back of the wagon for them to sit on while they ate.

As soon as Sully left her side, Kay looked around and felt more than a little bit lost upon seeing everyone socializing and talking together or even in most children's cases- running around and playing. As most children were want to do.

But not her.

She had never been the type to run around and play like a normal kid. She preferred to occupy her mind with other things. Dabbling into arts and crafts was a good outlet. But after doing it since she was five years old, her IQ was considerably higher than that of most normal children.

Making it extremely difficult for her to connect with _anyone_ really. And it wasn't that she didn't try, it was just that most times, people became so intimidated by her and her various talents that they simply either attacked her for being a freak or flat out ignored her.

Which was fine. She didn't really care one way or another.

Though a person would have to be crazy to try and bully her. War games and killing the bear that had injured her aside, despite her age and gender, she was a formidable person. And definitely no slouch in a fight either.

She may be small, but she wasn't weak.

It was while she wasn't paying attention that someone, a man in his mid to late twenties dressed in a white suit with a black tie, walked over to her and startled her by getting into her personal space.

"Hello, little one. I don't think that I've ever seen you before-" The man said as he knelt down a little bit, his dark eyes looking her over in a way that made her skin crawl. "Where is your family? Surely they wouldn't leave you unattended." She gave him an icy look as Sully finally returned and was quick to place himself between her and the stranger.

"James. What do you want?" He asked, attempting to keep hit tone from showing hostility. But it was difficult especially where James was concerned. The man had a bad habit of finding, isolating, and marrying young girls.

The youngest that he had married thus far had been twelve.

And like the four others before her- she had died in childbirth along with the baby. So if he was singling Kay out, especially at a social event, Sully knew that it was for no good reason.

James's smile dropped a little bit upon seeing Sully standing between him and the latest little mite that would become his bride. "Ah Sully, I was just introducing myself to the young lady-" James began to say, cranking up the charm a bit. But Sully knew too much about his past and wasn't the least bit impressed. If anything the man was outright pissed and James knew that he would have to watch himself or he'd be on the receiving end of Sully's volatile temper.

"She's a little girl and you're going to stay away from her." Sully growled out as he glared at the man before saying, "Whatever interest in her that you have, forget it. I'm her guardian and I say stay the hell away from her."

"Now, now, calm down Sully. My interest in her isn't unhealthy-"

"Bullshit. you've buried four wives her age along with their children, I will not let you do the same to her."

"And what if the girl herself is interested? Will you really stand in her way then?" James asked as he caught Kay peeking around Sully and looking at him oddly. Easily mistaking her confusion for interest in him.

Sully balked for a moment and looked down at his girl, wondering what she would say if James proposed to her. He couldn't help himself, he'd seen the man charm children like her before. All of them had been sweet and innocent and naïve to the ways of the world.

However quickly on the heel of that thought had been the reminder that his girl was a little bit on the ruthless side and obviously knew how to make her way in the world far better than any person he'd ever met before. She'd be a millionaire before she was twenty, he was sure.

And she wouldn't let no stinkin man like James turn her head or put her off of her chosen path either. Which was why he allowed her to step out from behind him and let James approach her.

It was obvious from the way that she took a moment to look between the two of them, that she had no idea what was going on. But he wasn't worried, _yet_.

He stood there with his fists clenched tightly at his sides as James took one of Kay's hands in his and brought it up to his lips and began whispering his sweet nothings in her little ear. And before Sully could so much as do anything other than watch helplessly while hping that she wasn't falling for his nonsense and counting down those damned seconds that the man used to charm his girl, she had yanked her hand from James's grasp and reared back her fist and punched the man in the throat while snarling, "I'd rather be a spinster than marry you!"


	12. Chapter 12

For about a week after the church social- Kay and how she somehow managed to deck a grown man before she started giving him the tongue lashing of his life- was all that Sully heard anyone talking about whenever he went into town. Which was understandable, his girl had displayed not only a fiery temper, but the actual strength to _drop_ a grown man like a bad habit in 0.2 seconds, to back it up.

Which might not have been so bad. If she had just stopped there.

Unfortunately, she hadn't.

Now- don't get him wrong, he was all for his girl defending herself or even others, but excessive force was inexcusable. Or at least he had thought so at first when she had then proceeded to stomp over to James as soon as she was finished telling him off and took one of his arms in her hands, and snapped it like it were a match stick.

He could still recall the sound of James, pained scream as it tore itself from his throat, drawing everyone in the immediate area's attention to the three of them as she grabbed the man by the hair and jerked his head back so that his throat was bared and growled something in his ear before letting him go with a rough shove forward into the dirt.

At which point Sully, much like every other grown man there, had finally managed to stop gaping at her (with the exception of the reverend, of course) and stammered out in alarm, "K-Kay? What the-" He was about to let his language slip due to the shock, and swear in front of the reverend when the girl cut him off with a quick.

"I'm going home."

"I- Wait! You were looking forward to today. I know that this," He motioned towards James as the man slowly regained his feet, cradling his injured arm and glaring at her. "Isn't something that you wanted, so stay and-"

"And what? Socialize? Make friends? Play with other kids my age? No thanks. You stay if you want, this is more your town and your people and friends than it and they are mine. I'm going home. I'll see you later."

"Wait! Kay! Hey- you haven't even eaten anything yet! At least-"

"I'm not hungry." The girl tossed over her shoulder as she walked off.

When he got home after the social, he noted that Kay wasn't at the homestead and quickly grabbed a horse and rode out to Cloud Dancing's village where his adopted brother had greeted him on the outskirts of the village and told him that Kay was going to stay with him and his wife for a few days.

He then went on to explain that she had come to them upset and they had been trying to figure out what was going on however the child wouldn't speak of what it was that had upset her. Sully had asked to see her and maybe say something to her, but Cloud Dancing had told him no.

Not right then. The girl needed a little time to settle down and calm herself before she spoke to him about anything. Sully tried not to be hurt by this, really he did. But he didn't understand _why_ she was so upset.

Did she think that he was going to put her in foster care or something now that he'd seen her temper in action? Was that what was going on? Is that why she had come to Cloud Dancing? Because if so- she was wrong. He wasn't the type of man to run from a challenge, such as raising a semi-violent little girl who could probably kick his ass if she was of the mind too.

As far as he was concerned, what she had done at the social was a form of self defense, even if she had crossed the line a little bit by breaking James's arm. And he wasn't all that upset by what she had done. If anything he found someone like James having his ass handed to him by a waif-like little thing like Kay, hilariously funny.

The broken arm- well, that was more of a shock than anything. But everyone in town knew that James was a sleaze ball who liked little girls, so really he had it coming.

He spent three days and two nights on the outskirts of the village, waiting for Kay to come to him like Cloud Dancing had advised him to. They weren't the most comfortable days, given that he had gotten used to being able to sleep in a bed again. But he didn't mind sleeping under the stars for a bit.

The weather was comfortable enough, not too warm or humid or hot, or cool and cold. And Cloud Dancing either brought him food or he went back home and fixed himself something that he usually ended up burning due to the fact that he wasn't used to using a stove anymore.

Thank god, for Kay's molasses and berry cookies and the others that she had made. If not for them and Cloud Dancing he likely would have starved to death waiting on her to finally return to his side.

The day that she finally did, he'd been leaning his back against a tree root, protruding form the moss covered ground that he'd been using for the past few days as his, sort of, bed when he had seen Kay and Cloud Dancing making their way towards him and suddenly pushed himself upright and then slowly stood.

The look on his adopted brother's face was angry, and at first Sully had felt a sliver of worry that perhaps Kay had hurt someone else when the two came to a stop a few feet from him and his adopted brother then knelt down and said clearly enough for him to hear.

"Say it again. Tell him what you told me," Cloud Dancing insisted, his tone gentle yet firm as sully moved to stand in front of his girl and patiently waited as Cloud Dancing slowly became more agitated as the moments passed until he finally said, "You need to tell him what the other threatened to do!"

At which point Sully noted that Kay was crying and shaking her head no, and frowned before she tore herself away from Cloud Dancing's side and ran off into the woods before either of the men could so much as yell for her to wait or stop and come back.

Turning his eyes to his adopted brother, Cloud Dancing looked as if he were getting ready to go chase her down and drag her back kicking and screaming when Sully demanded, "What was that about? What is it that she needs to tell me?"

Cloud Dancing was a mite _irked_ at the situation that he suddenly found himself in, he normally wouldn't have placed himself between Kay and Sully, but the girl had been so distraught upon coming to his village the other day that he'd not thought twice about what may happen. But it wasn't as if he exactly blamed the girl for just taking off like she had instead of facing Sully.

After all, it wasn't like she asked for the white man James to single her out and threaten the life of his brother and the lives of the people in his village.

On top of that, the girl was likely terrified that the man would go through with his threat and wasn't thinking rationally like she usually was.

He could understand this. Especially given the fact that he, his people and sully were the only family that she had left. Still...he hated being on the receiving end of Sully's temper. Even though his brother had never lay his hands on him, but then again, he didn't really need too.

Every time he lost his temper, Cloud Dancing got more than a little bit nervous. Partially because Sully sometimes reminded him of a bear or a venomous snake.

Most times he was easy going, and good natured and tended to mind his own business- but that all changed if he was pushed too far.

And what he was about to tell him of what Kay had said, would push him too far. Especially since he was the one who had taken the girl in and basically adopted her as his own.

And he had no doubt that by the time he finished speaking, Sully would take the time to track down Kay and sooth her as best as he could while he returned her to the homestead and then go into town and beat the ever loving hell out of the white man that had caused the child such distress.

And depending on his own mood once he was done speaking to Sully, he just might ride into town with him to watch the spectacle. Cause something told him that Sully would be far too angry to care overly much if it was public or not.

"Brother-" Sully started to say when Cloud Dancing finally spoke.

"The white man, James- Kay told me that he threatened her if she did not agree to marry him," Sully opened his mouth to tell Cloud Dancing that he was pretty sure that that ship had sailed when his friend continued speaking. "She told me that while you were letting him introduce himself and threaten her where you could not hear- she got very angry at him when he threatened you and myself and my people."

Now his brother was all but outright gaping at him in slight disbelief. Which was something he supposed as he then went on to tell Sully that before she lost her temper with the man and refused him, he had threatened to have Sully imprisoned on false charges of kidnapping and other things, and hung without a trial. And how he had also threatened himself, his family and his people by telling the soldiers that had been coming and going so often recently, that they had slaughtered Kay's family so that the soldiers would come and kill them and take her away.

Sully's expression remained blank for a moment before he clenched his jaw- a sure sign that his temper was beginning to show itself- and then quickly turned from him and ran in the direction that Kay had disappeared in. Leaving Cloud Dancing to sigh for a moment before he then ran into the woods after his brother.


	13. Chapter 13

**Please just roll with the story about Kay's past.**

* * *

Sully didn't bother trying to call out to Kay if she was in the immediate area, not when he wanted her to stay in one place long enough so that he could catch her. It simply wouldn't be smart to do so when she was still upset about what had happened with James.

Which was something that the two of them _would_ be talking about very soon. Whether she liked it or not, he silently vowed. No one- especially some sleaze like James- was going to threaten _his girl_ and get away with it.

He would murder the son of a bitch first.

It took some doing, and he wasn't exactly sure how much time had lapsed, but once he finally managed to find Kay he made sure to make a mental note to keep better tabs on her in the future. Especially since running off upset into the wilderness when she wasn't familiar with the area was a damned bad idea.

Moving stealthily up behind the small girl, Sully observed her for a moment. Noting the disheartening way she was sitting with her legs drawn tightly against her chest- giving off the illusion of being smaller than she actually was.

"Kay?" He said her name softly as he crouched down next to her on the ground.

She didn't look at him. Didn't speak. She didn't even seem to care that he was there and that hurt him almost as badly as if she had taken a knife and stabbed him in the gut with it. Still, it didn't deter him any. If anything it made him feel even more determined to speak with her.

However before he could think of what to say to her, she hesitantly spoke, cutting him off before he could even begin. "The guy from church- the one that I hurt... He isn't the first to ever approach me like that." Sully was eerily silent as he listened to her speak. "One of my late grandpa's business partners had a son about six years older than me. He made no secret of the fact that he wanted me and his son to marry and even brought it up a few times when it was about seven or so. It seemed like he was joking at first, but then my grandpa was in an bad accident. It didn't kill him, but he was in the hospital for a good long time which distracted my parents and grandma."

"While they were with grandpa- he took me in to 'take care of me'," Sully frowned as he caught the double meaning behind her words and he felt a sliver of dread snake it's way through his mind as he continued to listen, "The first day or so wasn't so bad. He and his son were nice, but on the third day his son tried to kiss me and I slapped him for it. His dad was so mad that he beat me black and blue and kept yelling that I had no right to slap his boy for trying to take what was his."

Sully fisted his hands against his pant's legs and bit his bottom lip to keep himself silent. "He left me in the guest room that he'd had fixed up for my stay with them, unconscious and lying in a small pool of my own blood and for the next four days decided to keep me locked up. I wasn't allowed out. One night while I was sleeping, someone came in and took all of my clothing away-" Sully sucked in a ragged breath fearing where her story was going. "That way the next day when I got up to go bathe, I had nothing to wear. Not long after that, the guy and his son came into my room knowing full well that I wasn't dressed and they brought a couple of friends. Or rather the guy did."

"One of the new men that had come in...he grabbed me and flung me onto the bed while the guy and his son started to strip. He said...such horrible, blood chilling things about what they were going to do to me... Now I'm not stupid, not by a long shot- I'd known since the day that the boy tried to kiss me that something was _horribly_ wrong. I knew that if I stayed there something was going to happen, but I couldn't get out. I beat on the door for days just _screaming_ to be let out- I wanted to go home."

"I tried to get up off of the bed, but one of the new guys had me pinned and was touching me..." Cloud Dancing's presence was felt by Sully as he felt his brother in all but blood lay a supportive hand on his shoulder. He didn't know just how much of Kay's story he had heard thus far, but he could hazard to guess that he'd been listening for several minutes now. "I was crying and screaming, and they all just laughed at me and told me to just 'enjoy it'. I was just a little kid, how the hell did they expect- _no_ , never mind- I never really understood what there was to enjoy about something like that anyways."

"So...there I was, pinned down, crying and screaming and the second that one of them told me to 'enjoy it' it was like all of the fear just melted away and I was so unbearably angry that the second that one of them climbed on top of me and tried to- uh, ya know- I waited until he wasn't really paying any attention to me and then I leaned up and I sank my teeth into his throat and refused to let go."

Sully blinked owlishly at her confession. Uncertain of what to think of what she had just said as she continued speaking, "I guess I must have blacked out or something when I did. I just wasn't aware of anything after that. When I finally seemed to come to my senses again, the boy was still on top of me. I could taste something coppery in my mouth but it took me a moment or so to realize just what it was. Everyone else was just staring at me in slack jawed disbelief as I rolled the boy off of me and found my hand covered in something warm and wet- _I killed him_. I didn't mean to but I did. It was horrifying and sickening but at the same time all I felt was an overwhelming sense of relief."

Finally she turned her head to look at him, her eyes were cold as she gave him a little smile and said, "They weren't so keen to have their fun with me after that. About ten minutes after they left me locked in the bedroom with the boy's corpse, my parents showed up with the law."

"My dad was beyond pissed at the guy for arranging an accident for my grandpa, but even more so once he found out just why he had done it and everything else he'd done while I was in his home. After that my parents and grandparents decided that it may be in my best interests to know how to defend myself and others. So if you're wanting me to apologize for what I did at the church social- don't bother wasting your breath _. I feel no need to apologize for the actions_ _of a monster than lives to prey on children_."

Sully didn't say anything for a moment or so before finally saying softly, "And I don't expect you to apologize to him for hurting him, not when he threatened me and Cloud Dancing and the village. I-" He sighed and looked away from her for a moment before simply saying, "I just didn't understand why you didn't say something to me. If you had-"

"You would have done something stupid and reckless and wound up in jail and poor Cloud Dancing would have had to raise me as his very own." Kay deadpanned as she stared at him as Cloud Dancing made a choking sound and shook his head no, causing Kay to huff out a small laugh at him.

Sully cringed a little bit and thought about denying what she had obviously thought of already, but found it pointless. He wouldn't lie to her and say that he wouldn't have done something stupid and reckless when deep down he knew that he probably would have.

"You're right. I would have. But Kay you need to understand-"

"I understand plenty Sully," Kay pointed out firmly but gently. "What happened at the church social isn't acceptable behavior, I know this. But after a few seconds of debating with myself on whether I should say something and let you handle it- and then coming to the conclusion that I did and deciding that handling it myself was simply the lesser of two evils."

"You're an adult, and while society expects you to protect, care for and provide for your family, you still would have wound up in jail. Whereas I, a child, am expected to make mistakes, throw temper tantrums and such as a part of growing up. So if anyone says anything or asks about my hurting James, simply shrug it off and say that I made a mistake or threw a tantrum. People don't have to _like_ it. But at least they _will_ understand."


End file.
